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Demo 1
Since finishing the full Bards, Beards and Birds game is a daunting task, there will be made several demos before the release of the actual game. These demos are intended to be smaller game entities, featuring characters and problems that are closely connected to the story in the full game. The demos will give the opportunity to gradually introduce new features that will be incorporated into the full version of Bards, Beards and Birds. Demo 1: Finding the Mask of Mockery This first demo introduces some key features of Bards, Beards and Birds. In the demo the player can move the hero around and interact with non playable characters and certain objects. The level will give an idea of the kind of puzzles the player will have to solve in the final game. On this adventure the hero has to go out in the wilderness in search for the mystical Mask of Mockery. Story Emmon desperately needs a new lute to fight Mister B. and his villains. Because his last lute was detuned past recovery by Confusion Cat, our hero is now unarmed in his all-encompassing battle with the Evil Forces. Benny Twospoons, the owner of The Two Spoons, happens to own a lute, the bard's favourite instrument. Even though Emmon desperately needs it, the grumpy ex-clown refuses to give it away for nothing. Benny tells Emmon about the Mask of Mockery, a scary looking ancient mask, that he very much would like to posses. Of course he could sell the rare mask for a good price, but the former clown is particularly looking forward to putting it on and scaring the customers. Making use of Emmon's desperation, the underhand clown makes clear he will give Emmon his lute only in exchange for the mask. Knowing how badly Emmon needs the instrument, Benny is quite sure he will soon be the happy owner of the scary mask. Next to The Two Spoons is a sinister voodoo building, It is the Tear Collector, owned by the dreadful Ay, the Tear Collector himself. At the moment Ay is sitting in front of his store on a bench. He tells Emmon that he locked himself out of his shop, as he has lost his keys. As it turns out, when Emmon brings up the topic of the mask to find out where it could be, Ay too, desires the mask because it would complete the Masks of Displeasure owned by him. He claims he has a lute too, although Emmon has no way to confirm this. He is able to tell Emmon that the Mask of Mockery is located in an ancient Anchorian building, the Museum of Mockery, in the wilderness outside the town. When Emmon wants to leave town his path is blocked by a very serious looking sentinel. The sentinel also knows of the temple in the wilderness and it is exactly the reason why he has barricaded the road. He, in name of the king, is very concerned that the clumsy bard will injure himself if he wanders off into the unknown. He will only let Emmon through if he looks audacious enough to pass for a real adventurer. Luckily for our hero the Tear Collector has a very special potion, a Roughneck Shot, that will make the hero look more tough. This is exactly what can be used to deceive the overprotective guard. Ay, however, does not give away the potion easily. The hero has to force him into a corner with his witty dialogue to finally convince him that he is going to get him the mask. (Optional: Ay does not yet have the potion but needs certain ingredients to brew it. This is of course a task of the hero, branching off a new story line). With the guard out of the way, Emmon can leave the town and advance to the crater where the Museum of Mockery is located. In order to reach the museum, which is situated quite high up, Emmon has to climb up several levels along the edges of the crater. Down at the ground level is a small lake (Optional: something could be located here, or behind the waterfall, branching off a new story line) He than has to go through a cave that goes onto the mountain. When he comes out at the other end of the cave, he is back at the crater while he passed the waterfall in the middle of the crater. Emmon then has a moving platform in front of him. The platform goes up and then follows the edge of the crater a bit, ending at the temple entrance. In order to reach the Anchorian temple, Emmon can jump on the platform. Watch out with jumping or falling down though, the player can be killed in the fall! To get into the Museum of Mockery, Emmon has to solve some small puzzle. This will open the doors. Inside is a big hall with painted walls and a pillar in the middle. On it is the Mask of Mockery. Of course, after obtaining the mask the hero does not give it to Ay, as he promised, but rather to Benny Twospoons. Emmon now finally acquired a lute. ( ) = Not yet started (/) = Being worked on (V) = Completed Gameplay features: *Locomotion system: walking (V), running (V), jumping (V), turning (V), falling (V) *The player can die and be revived (V) *Third person camera system (V) * Action panel: investigating and interacting with objects (V) *Basic inventory: **Picking up and using unique items and potions. (V) **Dragging from slot to slot. (V) **Using the action panel in the inventory. (V) **Using inventory items on objects in the world (V) **External database (V) * Collecting Money (V) *Main Menu (V) *Pause Menu (V) *Save Game. Simple version with only one slot (V) *Load Game. Simple version with only one slot (V) *Dialogue trees (V) Externally stored (V) * UI panels and buttons (/) Assets: *Emmon, the hero (V) *Ay, the tear collector (V) *Benny Twospoons, ex-clown and trader (V) *Sentinel (V) *Tear collector shop, exterior (V) *The Two Spoons shop, exterior (V) + interior (V) *Eastern Quarter houses, exterior (V) *Rabbit (V) *Cave, U-shaped (V) * Streaming waterfall (V) *Museum of Mockery, an Anchorian temple, exterior (V), interior (just the hall) (V) *Collectable Items: **Roughneck shot, (V) **rupees, (V) **Mask of Mockery, (V) **lute (V) ** carrot (V) *Paraphernalia: treasure chest (V), table (V), Sentinel beehive hut (V), handcart (V), garlands (V), crates (V) Sounds *Player action sounds such as walking on different materials, jumping etc. (V) *Picking up something (V) *Dialogues **Ay (V) **Benny (V) **Sentinel (V) *Object commentary (V) *Music: Main Menu (V), The Two Spoons (V), Temple entry (V) Other *Demo Icon (V) Testing for: *dialogue lines timing: gap between lines too short, too long etc. *flaws in the dialogue system logic: options disappear etc. *NPC animation: NPC play talking animation while listening to a line of the hero etc. *differences between words of the dialogue text and the dialogue sound * dialogue volume balance (do the characters in the dialogue have the same volume) * does the walking sound reflect the type of ground the player is walking on?